#BookReview | A Million Junes

“Love sneaked through me, spreading roots around my heart, until, in the blink of an eye, the green of it broke the dirt: hidden one moment, there the next.”

This was a beautiful retelling of Romeo & Juliet, but at the heart of the story was a tale about a curse that affected three generations of O’Donnells and Angerts. It’s a tale about how the descendants of these two families break the curse and fall in love, and it’s absolutely beautiful.

What first drew me to the story was the Romeo & Juliet angle. I was curious to see if Emily Henry would bring the story past the teenage, star-crossed romance that is the play (even though I love it, it also bugs me now that I’m older), and I was happy to see how much depth there was to this story. I have to admit that I was not that much in love with Henry’s first book, The Love That Split the World. I don’t know if I just read it at the wrong time, but I didn’t care for it.

What I loved even more about this story was the familiar places. It takes place in Five Fingers, Michigan, near Torch Lake. I recently went on a four-day motorcycle trip with my dad, and one of the places that we stopped at was Torch Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous, so I loved having a recognizable place in this story.

At times, the dialogue between June and her friend, or June and Saul felt a bit forced, like Henry was trying too hard to create witty banter, which I found a bit distracting. However, this was a vividly told tale that really captured and drew me in.

I highly recommend this if you loved her first book, or you love stories that deal with magical realism. You won’t be disappointed!